After the Dream Nations Cup tournament, the Algerian national ice hockey team returns to the United States. From August 21 to 25, they will take part in the traditional LATAM Cup.
The tournament will be organized with the support of the current Stanley Cup holders Florida Panthers. Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and other Latin American countries will take part in it. Teams from Lebanon and Pakistan will also be represented at the tournament.
Algeria will play:
August 21 with Puerto Rico
August 22 with Egypt
August 23rd with Venezuela
The LATAM Cup has grown steadily since its inaugural tournament in 2018 when five teams and 92 players competed over three days. The NHL and NHL Players’ Association through the Industry Growth Fund and the Panthers help support the LATAM Cup.
Many of the teams enter the LATAM Cup in hopes of getting the attention of government officials, sports federations or private investors in their countries or territories and convince them to help develop hockey there, mainly by building ice rinks.
Algeria eagerly signed up to compete in the LATAM Cup after the African nation made its North American debut at the Dream Nations Cup international tournament in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in April.
“Dream Nations Cup got exactly the attention we wanted from both the Algerian public and the Algerian government — more funding has started to trickle through with a promise of more and talk of potential ice rinks. We’re going to the LATAM Cup to strike while the iron is hot. We’re confident and we believe we can win Division II. This would reinforce our need for greater funding a full-sized ice rink. We’re traveling with our strongest team yet and we’re excited to play Puerto Rico, Egypt and Venezuela,” said Karim Kerbouche, the president of the Hockey Algeria.